


déjà vu

by Skyepilot



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Coulson's Huge Crush on Daisy, Deja Vu, F/M, First Kiss, Flirting, Fluff and Angst, Framework, Friends to Lovers, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-02
Updated: 2017-05-02
Packaged: 2018-10-26 19:29:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,120
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10793250
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Skyepilot/pseuds/Skyepilot
Summary: Fluffy Cousy nonsense set in the future.  Gettin' ready to be jossed.





	déjà vu

**Author's Note:**

  * For [nausicaa_of_phaeacia](https://archiveofourown.org/users/nausicaa_of_phaeacia/gifts).



It comes back in a flash, blinding and vivid.

After the roller coaster of adrenaline and chaos wind down.

The base is quiet again.

Déjà vu.

A life that's not quite his own, but was, finds him in the dark hallway tonight.

On the way to his room.

They speculated that TAHITI had made his mind more pliable, able to resist. And snap back into place again after.

"Why?" he hears himself ask, trying to hold onto the image after the surprise wears off.

He sees his own hand in front of him, raising up to his face.

"For luck."

His fingers involuntarily touch his lips, trying to recall how he had felt, then, at the sensation.

Watching her back away. Her hair was longer there, wasn't it?

Something he wants to say, or know.

He wanted to know. What are they to each other? But he/they, don't ask.

Instead he's told it's time to go.  
  
"See you on the other side. Phil."

"Daisy-"

He watches her as they send him through first.

  
+++

  
Things are tense for the first week that they come out.

It's not exactly talked about, more like around.

There's so much to do.

And they don't have an interim director, and Coulson doesn't want the job back.

She feels the terrible weight of leadership, the trust still feels like a gift.

They told her she earned it, but it's not in a way she ever would have wanted to.

And Coulson meets her eyes now and then, and she can feel that he's there for her.

If she would ask. But she doesn't.

Like she suspected, there are only fragments left of the Framework.

Some of them are huge, and weighed with guilt and grief. Scars.

Others are fleeting second chances, even if too brief. Trip and Hope.

She finds herself resorting to putting all the documents on Jeff's desk into neat, ordered piles. Out of habit, she supposes.

Like she doesn't really belong here, but there's no one else at the moment.

"Seems too soon, doesn't it?"

"Yes," she says, with a heavy sigh, setting down the file in her hands.

He gives her a sympathetic wince and lets himself into the office when she gestures at him.

"I know where they keep the good stuff," he offers in commiseration.

"Definitely too soon for that," she continues and doesn't exactly meet his eyes. "You save it for when things go to hell, right?"

"I think they just went to hell," he replies, no sarcasm in his voice at all.

"We lost people," she tells him, fixing him with a stare. "It was on me."

"No," he shakes his head at her. "That was not your fault. You saved us."

"Did you ever say that to yourself?" she asks, walking closer to him near the window. "No, it's not your f-"

"You did," he tells her, staring out the window, wearing a small smile. "And it always made me feel more....human."

When he turns to look at her, she can see the glisten in his eyes.

She puts her hand on his arm, and he moves closer, slipping past her defenses, hugging her against him.

"You made me believe. Again."

  
+++

  
"It's a good stopping point?"

"But, these reports-" she starts to complain, shoving around at the pile on her desk, then giving up. "And...you're a bad influence."

He knows that she needs a break and he's taking advantage, dammit.

"I hope so."

He raises his eyebrows up at her, when she glances at him, his hip against her desk, wearing jeans and looking a bit tanned from the mission.

And she wonders, if he was really quite this way before the Framework, or if it was one of its lasting consequences.

"C'mon, my treat," he says, egging her on, even though she barely budges. "You can drive Lola."

_Scoundrel._

She drops the files from her hands and stands up from behind the desk in her small office on the Z-1.

"I can't wear this," she tells him, pointing at her suit jacket, if you're dressed like...that.

"I'll wait," he tells her, armed with a smirk. "You can change."

"Uh," she says, walking to the door at the back of the room. "Where are we going?"

"We'll probably pass Florence soon. Ever been?"

"What do you wear to Florence?" she yells back at him out of her room as she gets to the closet and opens it, trying to shake her nerves.

This is seeming more like a date than a break. She thought maybe he might invite her for a beer with the team and the mission is complete, they're headed back to the base, but, she also knows Coulson is like a vampire, and he won't enter unless invited, and she can't decide.

"Come in?" she tells him, startling him standing at the entrance to her door.

"Okay," he says, waiting until she's several steps inside before following.

He sits down in a chair and then says yes too many times to everything she holds up, and he's in her room, and her palms are sweating, and so will the rest of her soon, so she makes an executive call on black.

When she starts to head to the restroom to change, he tells her instead he'll meet her in the hangar.

She slips into her leather jacket as she follows him moments later, just in case anyone it put off by her looking too casual and not Directorial enough.

The hangar is empty, though, except for Coulson and the single agent who is operating the hydraulics.

And Lola. With her top down and looking very polished. It gives her a sudden shiver of thrill.

Coulson sends the agent off with a pointed look and then checks the map display on his prosthetic.

"Perfect timing," he says, holding up the keys in front of her. "We have our window."

Taking the keys from his hand, she puts her phone into her jeans pocket, "When we land, I'll let Mack know-"

"Taken care of," he says, like he might be a little insulted. It's not like she would ever expect him to be responsible for more than he already is. She totally relies on him.

"Alright," she smiles, studying his expression appreciatively. "Anything else I'm not forgetting?"

"Yes," he says, stepping close to her, all the way close, and she combs over his face with her eyes, once the surprise of it wears off.

His eyelashes flutter and then she shuts her own eyes at the last, wanting to hold onto the moment, as he dips his head to kiss her.

"For luck," he whispers, with a smile drawn against her mouth.

 


End file.
